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Third rabbit - looking for people's thoughts

LarryMolly

Warren Scout
Hi all - I'm looking to hear people's experiences who keep unbonded rabbits separately as we unexpectedly took on a third rabbit on Thursday.

We'd been toying with the idea of bonding a third to our pair but hadn't actually decided for sure either way yet. Anyway I saw a rabbit for sale online living in the most horrendous conditions (surprised that they'd advertised her in that state) and after seeing that my partner and I couldn't leave her, so we went to get her the following day.

We're lucky that we have the space and spare pens etc so she's living upstairs in a 6x2 pen in our spare bedroom recuperating. (Will be increasing the pen overtime but she's been confined to a tiny cage all her life so don't want to overwhelm her with too much space too soon - presume this is the right thing to do?)

Our bonded pair live downstairs and have our whole dining room 24/7 and free range in the hall and lounge when we're home.

So they are on separate floors, not in sight of each other and don't share any playtime territory but obviously will be able to smell each other in the air and on us. We've been changing clothes and washing hands when cleaning them out to limit this as much as we can.

We were expecting it to affect our bonded pair from what I know about rabbits and have read but I'm keen to hear what's happened to other people when bringing in another rabbit within smelling distance and see if anyone has any advice on different things we can do to make it easier on the bonded pair.

So two things have happened really: our spayed female (Molly) in the bonded pair lost her litter training entirely on Sunday and was producing what seemed to be extra smelly urine. So I had a fun Sunday of cleaning up multiple wees all day!!! And our male (Larry) has been chasing Molly a few times. This is always followed by snuggling and so far hasn't escalated but the chasing is out of character.

In people's experiences is this normal and does this behaviour settle down once they get used to the change? Or will they continue to feel threatened? And I'd be interested to hear any advice on how we can make this easier on them as well.

(Have posted in health as well about our new rabbit.)

Thanks




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Sorry, I'm not much help with trios, but bumping this up in hopes someone will be along soon!

It sounds like you female bun is re-asserting her territory due to the invader. She'll settle again soon enough, once the threat is figured out.
 
Your pair will most likely settle down and soon. I have 5 different groups (two trios, three pairs) and any scent of other rabbits never really ruffles any feathers here. I might get occasional referred aggression if they come within centimetres of each others' set ups, but that settles down quickly usually. (It only happens with supervised free-ranging in the garden. We're planning to continue working so they can't see during free-ranging time.)

I've bonded several trios and always been very lucky with the speed it has taken, never longer than a week. So, although I've experience bonding trios, I can't give much advice regarding bonding, if that's the direction you choose to go. I've always said the rabbits do the work anyway. Good luck with your new bun, either way.
 
I think we're really unlucky with this - they've just had a fight! Have made their area a fraction of the size and at the moment there is just chasing by the male rabbit. It's going to be a long night... fingers crossed they work it out.


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Sorry I haven't been able to reply to your original post.

How are things looking today?

Hi - no worries at all! Things are nice and calm at the moment, I don't want to speak too soon but I think they've worked it out. There were no injuries last night, just fur pulling and chasing. We put them in the carrier in the end for 15 mins which stopped the chasing. Then for the rest of the night they played together and snuggled together. What a drama!!

I'm crossing my fingers this means they've worked out whatever problem they had with the new bun upstairs.

Do spayed female rabbits produce really smelly urine when they're feeling territorial? It's really pungent and much smellier than the unspayed new rabbit upstairs. My other thought is it might be a UTI.




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Hi - no worries at all! Things are nice and calm at the moment, I don't want to speak too soon but I think they've worked it out. There were no injuries last night, just fur pulling and chasing. We put them in the carrier in the end for 15 mins which stopped the chasing. Then for the rest of the night they played together and snuggled together. What a drama!!

I'm crossing my fingers this means they've worked out whatever problem they had with the new bun upstairs.

Do spayed female rabbits produce really smelly urine when they're feeling territorial? It's really pungent and much smellier than the unspayed new rabbit upstairs. My other thought is it might be a UTI.




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Yes, you've voiced both my thoughts re the smelly urine. Either territorial or UTI. Keep an eye out for spotting or straining, or anything unusual apart from the pungency. Hopefully it was a one off ...

Glad to hear the snuggles have returned :)
 
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